This week in MexicoM/C vet O’Neal leading 48 racers with 121 combined class
victories in this week’s 30th annual SCORE San Felipe 250

Entries from 20 States, seven countries for 249.5-mile course; to be televised on CBS Sports Network;
real time vehicle tracking, live streaming from start/finish line area at www.SCORE-international.com

SAN FELIPE, Baja California, Mexico – Looking to add to his record-setting class win total, SoCal’s veteran age-group motorcycle racer Jim O’Neal will lead 48 racers who have combined for 121 class wins among over 150 racers expected to start Saturday’s 30th SCORE San Felipe 250 desert race. O’Neal, 69, the noted apparel manufacturer from Simi Valley, Calif., has 15 class wins in San Felipe and will be an additional rider in two classes (Pro Moto Limited and Pro Moto 50) in the season-opener of the internationally-televised four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship.
The race is being held in San Felipe, the quaint Mexican fishing village located on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja California, 125 miles south of the U.S. Border at Calexico, Calif. In 2016, all four rounds of the SCORE World Desert Championship will be held on Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula.
With late entries accepted up to 5 p.m. on Friday, the 249.5-mile race has attracted over 150 entries from 20 U.S. States and seven countries ready to compete in Pro and Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, UTVs, motorcycles and quads in the 30th anniversary of this popular race. The starting grid includes 15 entries in SCORE Trophy Truck, the marquee racing division for high-tech, 850-horsepower unlimited production trucks.
TREINTA ANOS CELEBRACION!!!
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the youngest of the three traditional SCORE Baja races sometimes referred to as the SCORE ‘baby Baja’. Racing will be held over a rugged 249.5-mile course that includes four of Baja’s infamous washes. While the fastest vehicles are expected to finish in approximately five hours, the elapsed-time race has a 17-hour time limit. Motorcycles and quads will start on vehicle at a time, beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday and the car, truck and UTV classes will leave at approximately 10:30 a.m. with at least a three and one-half hour split between the first group of vehicles.
ARCOS MUY FAMOSO
To help celebrate three decades of this popular ‘spring break’ fiesta, the race will start and finish where it has for over 20 years, in the shadow of the famed San Felipe Arches on the outskirts of town.
PRE-RACE SKED…
The pre-race Manufacturer’s Midway, contingency and tech inspection of the vehicles in the race will be held on Friday. Contingency will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PT) and tech/transponder check from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the picturesque Malecon, flanked by the Sea of Cortez on one side and the popular restaurants and night clubs of San Felipe on the other.
Racer registration will be held at the Rockodile night club from noon to 4 p.m. (PT) and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PT) on Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (PT) on Friday.
DOS FIESTAS A JUEVES
Double-Fiestas will be held on Thursday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Rockodile night club as the Monster Energy SCORE Kick-off Party will be held on the upper deck and the Bud Light Party on the lower deck. Both parties are open to the public and donations will be taken for Cruz Roja de Mexico (Red Cross).
SCORE LIVE!
Live coverage from the start/finish line will be streamed on the SCORE website along with tracking of all vehicles in the race. Producer/host of the live streaming will be Mitch Berney. Production will be by Tecnovision. Other announcers will be Dianna Dahlgren, Fernanda Varga and Maria Christina Grijalva. The live streaming is designed to promote the full one hour CBS Sports Network broadcast of the race at 9 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, April 10.
ES POSIBLE?
Winning the last three SCORE San Felipe races overall, Mexico’s Gus Vildosola Jr will be looking to break a three-way tie with three Las Vegas racers to become the first racer to win the SCORE overall title in race history four times and the first to pull off four consecutive victories.
A second generation Mexican desert racer, Vildosola Jr of Mexicali has five class wins in this race including a record-tying three straight overall and SCORE Trophy Truck wins in the No. 21 Mexicana Logistics Vildosola Racing Ford Raptor.
Vildosola Jr, with help from his father Gus Sr in 2013 won his first overall. He drove solo the next two years to tie the record in 2015 of three straight overall wins set by Las Vegas racing brothers Ed Herbst and Tim Herbst who won three straight in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Also with three overall wins, but not consecutively, are Rob MacCachren and Brian Collins, who along with the Herbst brothers are Las Vegas natives.
THE CHALLENGERS
Mexico’s Vildosola Jr will be going for a four-peat as he attempts to win the SCORE San Felipe 250 overall and in the featured SCORE Trophy Truck title and become the first driver in race history to win the popular race four consecutive years. Some 15 competitors in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division are among the field of challengers attempting to stop the talented Vildosola Jr, who was born and raised in Mexicali, Mexico.
Among the top challengers to Vildosola Jr are fellow SCORE Trophy Truck racers B.J. Baldwin, and RPM Racing teammates Carlos ‘Apdaly’ Lopez, and Justin Matney.
Las Vegas’ Baldwin , who drives the No. 97 Monster Energy Baldwin Motorsports Chevy Silverado, is a four-time SCORE Trophy Truck season point champion (2006, 2008, 2012, 2013) .
Lopez, the 21-year old phenom from Tecate, Mexico, won the 2015 SCORE Trophy Truck and SCORE Overall point championship en route to being voted SCORE Rookie of the Year in the No. 1 RPM Racing Chevy Rally Truck.
Matney, 30, of Bristol, Tenn., won the 2014 SCORE Class 1 season point championship. He returned late last year after back surgery and his been extremely impressive in his new 4-wheel drive No. 4 RPM Racing Chevy Rally Truck in the marquee SCORE Trophy Truck division.
BREAKING IT DOWN…
The field includes racers from four of the last six overall motorcycle winners as well as the last three overall 4-wheel vehicle winners in San Felipe. Also entered are 13 class winners from last year’s race and 15 of the 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship class point champions.
SCORE Trophy Trucks have won 19 overalls in San Felipe in the 22-year history of the class. Southern California’s Mark Post/Jerry Whelchel in 1997, San Diego’s son/father team of Andy and Scott McMillin (2005) and Armin Schwarz (Germany)/Martin Christensen (Denmark) (2010) have the only three Class 1 overall wins since SCORE created the featured SCORE Trophy Truck division in 1994.
In the first 29 years of this race, Honda has earned 18 overall motorcycle victories (including 16 of the last 19 years), Kawasaki has seven, KTM has three and Husqvarna has one.
OTRO MAS, POR FAVOR….
Leading the gregarious group of 23 racers with at least two class wins in this race entered this year are Jim O’Neal (Pro Moto Limited and Pro Moto 50) with a SCORE race-high15 class wins (age group motorcycle) wins–all in the last 15 years, and six-time winners Jeff Kaplan (Pro Moto 50) and Gerardo Rojas (Pro Moto 40) in this San Felipe race. Gus Vildosola Jr has five wins (SCORE Trophy Truck) and with four class wins each in San Felipe are Ricardo Malo (Class 1), Wayne Matlock (Trophy Truck Spec), Cody Robinson (Class 10), Francisco Septien (Pro Moto 40) and Colton Udall (Pro Moto Unlimited).
O’Neal has raced in all 29 previous SCORE San Felipe 250 races and he has a SCORE-record 17 career season class point titles, including last season in Class 30 as a co-rider on the over-30 years-old motorcycle team led by Mark Winkelman.
CLASS CHAMPS BACK
Last year’s overall 4-wheel and 2-wheel champions are also part of the field. Vildosola Jr was the overall and SCORE Trophy Truck champion in 2015 while the returning 2-wheel and Pro Moto Unlimited champion was the Colton Udall, Yucca Valley, Calif..
Besides Vildosola Jr and Udall, a total of the 13 defending SCORE San Felipe 250 class winners have entered so far this year including Rob Archibald, El Cajon, Calif. (Class 1), Jorge Sampietro, Ensenada, Mexico (Class 1/2-1600), Victor Cesena, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Class 5), Armando Garcia, Ensenada (Class 5-1600), Larry Connor, Miamisburg, Ohio (Trophy Truck Spec), Chad Broughton, Scotts Valley, Calif. (Class 3000), Ruben Alamos, Manzanillo, Mexico (Pro Moto Limited), Mark Winkelman, Cedar Hill, Texas (Pro Moto 30), Tony Gera, Santa Cruz, Calif. (Pro Moto Ironman), Derek Fletcher, Abington, Va. (SPT Buggy) and Juan Dominguez, Yuma, Ariz. (SPT Quad).
Broughton (Trophy Truck Spec), Winkelman (Pro Moto Limited and Pro Moto 50), Derek Fletcher (Class 1) and Dominguez (Pro Quad) are all entered in different classes this year.
LA RUTA
Pre-running will be allowed on the actual race course through Friday. The race course is a single loop, run counter-clockwise for 249.5 miles. Starting and finishing at the San Felipe Arches monument, the course is considered to possibly be the toughest in the history of this popular race.
Fairly similar to the course run in 2010, it does not cross Highway 3 which goes to Ensenada. Instead it runs up to it along Highway 5 and then turns northwest just before Highway 3 and parallels it for about 10 miles before turning further south all the way down to the legendary Matomi Wash. Working its way back north, it heads southwest and then north and north west before turning north back to the finish line.
In addition to Matomi, the course also includes three other major Baja washes– Huatomote, Chanate and Amarillas. The course will have three physical checkpoints at race mile 24.7, rm 148.5 and rm 244.7. There will also be approximately 45 virtual checkpoints along the race course.
ENTRY LEADERS
Class 10 has the most entries so far with 20, followed by the unlimited Class 1 with 18, SCORE Trophy Truck with 15 entries and Trophy Truck Spec with 13 entries.
Leading the motorcycle entries is the Pro Moto Ironman class with nine entries followed by Pro Moto Unlimited and Pro Moto 40 (riders at least 40 years old) with six each.
CBS SPORTS NETWORK COVERAGE
All races in the four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship, along with the special SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience and qualifying for the SCORE Baja 1000 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway are once again airing in the USA and Canada on the CBS Sports Network. The spectacular shows feature not only SCORE Trophy Truck coverage, but also top action and highlights from many other classes of trucks, cars, UTVs, motorcycles and quads – making sure that the most exciting footage and most compelling stories continue are part of each race event broadcast.
Capping off the 2016 broadcast season, the SCORE Baja 1000 broadcast on CBS Sports Network will air as a full two-hour special for the second straight year.
ON THE AIR
2016 CBS Sports Network Original Broadcast Schedule (subject to change, check local listings)
· SCORE San Felipe 250 (first telecast-Sunday, April 10, 9 p.m.)
· SCORE Baja 500 (first telecast-Sunday, July 24, 9 p.m. ET)
· SCORE Desert Challenge presented by Rosarito Beach (first telecast-Sunday, Nov. 13, 9 p.m. ET)
· SCORE Baja 1000 Qualifying @SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience (first telecast-Sunday, Dec.18, 9 p.m. ET)
· SCORE Baja 1000 (two-hour special) (first telecast-Sunday, December 25, 9 p.m. ET)
CBS SPORTS NETWORK
CBS Sports Network is available across the country through local cable, video and telco providers and via satellite on DirecTV Channel 221 and Dish Network Channel 158. For more information, including a full programming schedule and how to get CBS Sports Network, go to www.cbssportsnetwork.com.
SCORE OFF-ROAD RACING NETWORK—CARBONTV.COM
Continuing to expand the scope, reach and exposure value of its brand, races and racers, SCORE also recently entered into an agreement with Carbon Media Group to launch the new SCORE International Off-Road Racing Network on CarbonTV. Content to be included on the premier online video destination include all telecasts of the five-race SCORE World Desert Championship as well as all of SCORE’s online web series available 24/7 and at no cost. It can be accessed at www.carbontv.com/networks/score-international.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
SCORE also announced that it will continue the production of its vastly popular four online multiple-segment video series of Conquest, Legends, Roost and Guerrero. The online video series are part of the new website design that include elements also aired through the SCORE Journal digital magazine in addition to the new 24/7 CarbonTV channel.
SCOREscope
The four-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship will include four special events and for the first time all four will be held in Baja California, Mexico. Here is the complete 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule:
· 30th SCORE San Felipe 250, Feb. 25-28, San Felipe, Mexico
· 48th SCORE Baja 500, June 1-5, Ensenada Mexico
· 20th SCORE Desert Challenge, presented by Rosarito Beach, Sept. 14-18, Rosarito Beach, Mexico
· 49th SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.16-20, Ensenada, Mexico
SCORE SPONSORS…
Official Sponsors: Bud Light-Official Beer, Monster Energy-Official Energy Drink, BFGoodrich Tires-Official Tire, King Shocks-Official Shock Absorber, Vision Wheel – Official Wheel, Axial R/C-Official R/C Vehicle, Muck Daddy-Official Hand Cleaner, CBS Sports Network-Official Television Partner, Wide Open Excursions- Official Arrive and Drive Company, Crystal Bay Casino-Official Casino.
Associate Sponsors: Symons Ambulance Company, Aero Calafia, Tessco.
Additional SCORE Partners: Proturismo Ensenada, Visit Baja California Sur, Baja California Secretary of Tourism, Baja California Sur State Government, Mexicali Ayuntamineto, COTUCO Mexicali/San Felipe, Cruz Roja Mexicana, Corporate Helicopters, Instant Mexico Auto Insurance, GoPro, PCI Race Radios, McKenzie’s Performance Products, Advanced Color Graphics.
For more information, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCORE-International.com.